{"id":235282,"date":"2026-08-04T10:57:16","date_gmt":"2026-08-04T10:57:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/235282\/"},"modified":"2026-08-04T10:57:16","modified_gmt":"2026-08-04T10:57:16","slug":"spotlight-on-terrorism-and-the-israeli-palestinian-conflict-july-28-august-3-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/235282\/","title":{"rendered":"Spotlight on Terrorism and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict (July 28 \u2013 August 3, 2026)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"TheThe aftermath of the of the strike near the Shuhadaa al-Aqsa Hospital (The ministry of health in Gaza Telegram channel, August 1, 2026)\"Al-HayyaAl-Hayya (left) and Fidan (Hamas Telegram channel, July 30, 2026)Trending
\n
\n
\n\tThe implementation of the road map agreement for the storage of Hamas’ weapons and those of the other terrorist organizations, and the IDF’s withdrawal from the Gaza Strip is uncertain.
\n\tCoordination between Hamas, Turkey and Qatar continued.
\n\tThe Palestinian Authority continued to promote legal and diplomatic measures to counter settler terrorism.
\n <\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

The American president and the Board of Peace announced agreement on the road map for the second phase of the ceasefire, focusing on the storage of the heavy weapons of Hamas and the other armed factions, without requiring the surrender of personal arms, along with the IDF\u2019s withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and the entry of the Palestinian committee for the administration of the Gaza Strip and the international stabilization force.
\nHamas claimed it had made \u201cconcessions\u201d to end the aggression but would continue its \u201cpolitical and national activities\u201d to \u201cliberate all Palestinian land from the occupation on all fronts.\u201d The Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) had reservations regarding the wording of the agreement.
\nIDF forces continued operations in the Yellow Line area and other parts of the Gaza Strip, destroying weapons depots, some near a mosque and a hospital, and eliminating operatives from Hamas and the other terrorist organizations, including operatives involved in the atrocities of the October 7, 2023 invasion and massacre. The Palestinians reported an escalation in IDF operations following the announcement that agreement had been reached on the road map.
\nHamas\u2019 new political bureau chairman, Khalil al-Hayya, met with the Turkish foreign minister and spoke with the prime minister of Qatar.
\nUnited States authorities announced that the director of a charitable organization had been arrested in the United Kingdom on suspicion of financing Hamas.
\nIsraeli security forces continued extensive counterterrorism operations in Judea and Samaria, detaining more than 200 wanted individuals and suspects and seizing weapons and other military equipment.
\nThe PLO established a center to monitor, and document alleged Israeli violations for use in proceedings before international legal institutions and in academic and journalistic research.<\/p>\n

On July 31, 2026, the American president and the Board of Peace announced that they had reached an agreement with Hamas on the road map for the second phase of the ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip. The agreement was formulated after about six months of negotiations between Hamas, the other armed factions and the mediators, which focused primarily on disarmament.
\nAccording to the updated road map, Israel, Hamas and the other terrorist organizations will cease military operations in the Gaza Strip, the Palestinian administration committee will assume responsibility, the international stabilization force will deploy throughout the Gaza Strip and a supervisory committee will verify implementation of the first phase. Hamas and the other armed factions will transfer their heavy weapons, weapons depots, production facilities and tunnels to the responsibility of the Palestinian administration committee, which will store and supervise them. The Israel-backed militias will also be disarmed and their weapons stored under the authority of the administration committee; possession of personal weapons will be permitted. The IDF will complete a gradual withdrawal from the Gaza Strip according to an agreed timetable, subject to disarmament.
\nHamas confirmed it had accepted the proposal, but linked relinquishing its weapons to the IDF\u2019s withdrawal and the dismantling of the militias, the entry of the administration committee and the deployment of the international force, as well as the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip and progress toward the establishment of a Palestinian state. Ghazi Hamad, a senior Hamas figure and member of the negotiating delegation, claimed that the movement had accepted the framework despite its reservations because of the situation in the Gaza Strip. He added that Hamas agreed to transfer the administration of the Gaza Strip to an independent committee but intended to continue as a \u201cpolitical movement.\u201d Hamad said that under no circumstances would it abandon \u201cits national project or national duties,\u201d but would work day and night to \u201cliberate Palestinian lands from the occupation, establish a Palestinian state and continue on all fronts\u201d[3] (al-Arabiya and al-Sharq TV, July 31, 2026).
\nThe Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) reported that it had not yet accepted the agreement and was continuing consultations with Hamas and the other \u201corganizations.\u201d A source said the movement would not hand over its weapons to the Palestinian administration committee without a complete and full IDF withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, the border crossings were opened, food and medical aid shipments were allowed in, the militias supported by Israel were dismantled and there was a complete cessation of attacks in the Gaza Strip (al-Sayyad Telegram channel, August 2, 2026).<\/p>\n

IDF forces continued operations to destroy terrorist infrastructure and eliminate terrorists in the Yellow Line area and other parts of the Gaza Strip. At least ten Hamas terrorists and operatives from other terrorist organizations were eliminated after being involved in planning attacks on IDF forces or in efforts to rebuild Hamas\u2019 military capabilities. Some of those eliminated also participated in the atrocities of the October 7, 2023 terrorist invasion and massacre and had held hostages. Hamas weapons depots throughout the Gaza Strip were destroyed, including one inside a mosque in the northern Gaza Strip and one near the Shuhadaa al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah which also served as a shelter for Hamas terrorists (IDF Spokesperson, July 28-August 3, 2026).
\nThe ministry of health in Gaza claimed that the strike near the Shuhadaa al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah had destroyed two of the four medicine warehouses at the site and caused extensive damage to two other warehouses. It also claimed the strike damaged the hospital\u2019s outpatient clinic building, which is adjacent to the warehouses (ministry of health in Gaza Telegram channel, August 1, 2026). Another report claimed that tents housing displaced persons near the warehouse complex had been damaged (al-Sayyad Telegram channel, August 1, 2026).<\/p>\n

\"The\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\"The
The aftermath of the of the strike near the Shuhadaa al-Aqsa Hospital (Right: The hospital\u2019s Facebook page, August 1, 2026. Left: The ministry of health in Gaza Telegram channel, August 1, 2026)<\/p>\n

On August 2, 2026, hospital sources in Gaza reported 19 fatalities in more than ten Israeli strikes carried out during the day, including 12 fatalities in Gaza City and the northern Gaza Strip (Shehab and Quds agencies, August 2, 2026). Hamas claimed the attacks \u201ca deliberate escalation\u201d sanctioned by the Israeli government whose objective was to undermine the understandings reached with the mediators (Hamas Telegram channel, August 2, 2026). Nikolay Mladenov, the representative of the Board of Peace, also criticized the strikes, which he said had come after efforts by the mediators to secure the agreement of the Palestinian \u201corganizations\u201d to the road map for implementing the American plan. He said both sides had obligations under the agreement, which had already secured the release of all the hostages, and noted that efforts were underway to prevent escalation and create space for implementing the plan (Nikolay Mladenov\u2019s X account, August 2, 2026).<\/p>\n

Hamas Governance<\/p>\n

On July 29, 2026, a one-day general strike was held by workers in government offices, public institutions and the public health system in the Gaza Strip to protest the non-payment of salaries and salary advances to public-sector employees for the previous four months. According to Khalil Hamada, chairman of the workers\u2019 union, about 45,000 employees, who support approximately 400,000 people, had received only two payments of 1,000 shekels each since the beginning of the year. He said the objective of the strike was to pressure the temporary government committee and the Palestinian national committee for the administration of Gaza. The nurses\u2019 union joined the strike, but essential departments and inpatient care continued to operate as usual. The unions warned they would take additional measures if the workers\u2019 demands were not met (al-Araby al-Jadeed and Palestine Online, July 29, 2026; aljazeera.net, July 30, 2026).
\nDespite the Israeli targeted killings of Palestinian officers and police personnel in the Gaza Strip, police forces continued to operate in the realms of public order, commercial supervision and the resolution of civil disputes. In Gaza City, the police arrested seven suspects and confiscated two weapons after a family dispute involving gunfire which resulted in two people being wounded had been brought under control. In Khan Yunis, the food inspection department destroyed 839 kilograms of pears found to be unfit for human consumption during an inspection of the markets. The community police in Khan Yunis mediated two financial disputes involving a total of 29,000 shekels (about $9,500) and reached agreements for repayment of the debts in installments (Palestinian police in the Gaza Strip Telegram channel, July 27-29, 2026).
\nA source in Hamas\u2019 Rada Force said during the two days following the announcement of the agreement on the road map, the cases of 17 operatives who had left the militias cooperating with Israel had been \u201cresolved through family mediation\u201d (journalist Isma\u2019il Abu Omar\u2019s Telegram channel, August 2, 2026).<\/p>\n

The Situation in the Gaza Strip<\/p>\n

Nahed Nimr Shakhbir, chairman of the association of private transport companies in Gaza, announced the suspension of truck and transport vehicle operations within the Gaza Strip and across its borders after supplies of tires, engine oil and spare parts had been \u201calmost completely exhausted.\u201d He said continuing to operate trucks and vehicles with worn tires and without oil changes and routine maintenance endangered drivers\u2019 lives and could lead to serious accidents. The association called for permission to bring modern trucks into the Gaza Strip, noting that the \u201coverwhelming majority \u201cof the truck fleet had been destroyed or severely damaged during the war, while the remaining trucks were old. It warned that the continuation of the situation threatened to bring the transportation sector to a complete halt, with consequences for the movement of goods, services and the supply of the Gazans\u2019 basic necessities (Nahed Shakhbir\u2019s Facebook page, July 28, 2026).
\nNahed Nimer Shakhbir also claimed that the Egyptian company Bani Sinai[4] was forcing Palestinian pharmaceutical companies in Gaza to pay $300,000 for a permit to bring a shipment of medicines into the Gaza Strip (Nahed Shakhbir\u2019s Facebook page, August 1, 2026).<\/p>\n

A Hamas delegation headed by Khalil al-Hayya, the movement\u2019s political bureau chairman, met with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan. They discussed the negotiations in Cairo, the ceasefire, developments in Judea, Samaria and Jerusalem, Palestinian unity and the plan to hold elections. It was the first such bilateral meeting since al-Hayya was elected Hamas\u2019 leader (Anadolu Agency, July 29, 2026; Hamas Telegram channel, July 30, 2026).[5]<\/p>\n

\"Al-Hayya
Al-Hayya (left) and Fidan (Hamas Telegram channel, July 30, 2026)<\/p>\n

Qatar\u2019s Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, spoke with Hamas political bureau chairman Khalil al-Hayya and welcomed the movement\u2019s agreement to the road map for completing the ceasefire. He said he hoped the understandings would end the \u201cGazans\u2019 suffering\u201d and added that the international community had to pressure Israel to fulfill its commitments, end its \u201cviolations\u201d and allow the framework to be implemented (al-Jazeera Mubasher, July 31, 2026).<\/p>\n

The United States Department of Justice announced that Muhammad Yusuf Hasna aka both Orhan Korkmaz and Abu al-Baraa\u2019, 45, of Istanbul, was arrested in the United Kingdom following a criminal complaint charging him with three counts of providing Hamas with material and financial support. The case is part of an investigation conducted in cooperation with the British authorities and the Israel Security Agency (ISA). According to the allegations, since 2023 Hasna had exploited his position as the global director of a charitable organization registered in the United Kingdom to transfer money, food and equipment to the Gaza Strip in coordination with senior Hamas figure Ghazi Hamad, while concealing the identities of the aid recipients and the locations where the supplies were stored. According to reports, the charitable organization\u2019s revenue nearly doubled after the October 7, 2023 terrorist invasion and massacre, and in the fiscal year ending in July 2025, it reported charitable expenditures of approximately $91 million (United States Department of Justice website, July 31, 2026).<\/p>\n

Counterterrorism <\/p>\n

This past week the Israeli security forces continued extensive counterterrorism operations in Judea and Samaria, detaining more than 200 wanted individuals and suspects, including Hamas operatives, suspects involved in planning attacks, manufacturing explosive devices and promoting terrorism, suspects accused of incitement, smugglers of illegal residents, arms dealers and a suspect involved in manufacturing explosive devices. The forces also destroyed explosive devices and confiscated weapons, equipment used to manufacture weapons, a drone and tens of thousands of shekels suspected of being intended to finance terrorist activity. During an operational activity in the village of Beita, a Palestinian suspect who sped his vehicle toward an IDF force was shot (IDF and Israel Police Spokespersons, July 28-August 3, 2026).
\nOn July 31, 2026, a confrontation developed between an Israeli civilian and several Palestinians near the community of Meitzad in Gush Etzion, during which the Palestinians threw rocks at the Israeli. The community\u2019s security coordinator arrived and detained several suspects. Subsequently, another Palestinian attempted to seize the security coordinator\u2019s weapon, and the coordinator shot him in the legs before detaining him (IDF Spokesperson, July 31, 2026).<\/p>\n

Settler Terrorism <\/p>\n

On July 31, 2026, hundreds of Israelis reportedly entered villages and neighborhoods west of Nablus, including Tal, Juneid, al-Amiriya, Sarra and Beit Wazzan. Riots developed in some instances, including rock-throwing, and crowd dispersal measures were employed. The Palestinian Red Crescent reported more than 11 casualties, including one man wounded by gunfire and ten people suffering from tear gas inhalation. Damage to a cemetery, the burning of olive trees in the village of Burin and the arrest of five young men in Tal were also reported (Nablus News Telegram channel, July 31, 2026). The IDF Spokesperson stated that Israeli civilians had entered the outskirts of Nablus, and Palestinians gathered and threw rocks at them, and an Israeli civilian fired into the air. Several of the Israelis reportedly vandalized a cemetery. IDF forces dispersed the gathering and removed all the Israeli civilians from the city. Rocks were later thrown at the forces, who responded with suspect arrest procedure and fired at a person described as an \u201cinstigator\u201d (IDF Spokesperson, July 31, 2026).
\nA report by the PLO\u2019s national bureau for defending the land and resisting settlements claimed that violence by Jewish settlers in Judea and Samaria had [allegedly] evolved from isolated incidents into a \u201csystematic mechanism to displace Palestinian communities from their land with the cooperation or backing of the army, the civil administration and government officials.\u201d As examples the report cited the incidents in Kafr Tal and other villages, the expansion of local security squads and the distribution of weapons, government assistance to outposts and the high rate of investigations closed without indictments. It claimed that since the beginning of 2026, the UN had documented more than 1,330 attacks which damaged property, infrastructure and livelihoods and led to the displacement of sheep herding and Bedouin communities. The report warned that without international intervention, the attacks could expand and intensify, particularly in rural areas and Bedouin communities (Wafa, August 1, 2026).<\/p>\n

On July 29, 2026, the PLO\u2019s department of human rights and civil society launched the Palestinian national monitoring center in Ramallah. According to the PLO, the center will document and analyze allegations of Israeli violations of international humanitarian law and human rights. Reportedly the center will operate a system for monitoring and verifying information, a database, a mapping platform, a digital archive and a repository of testimonies and documents. It will also be used to prepare reports, studies and legal case files for international judicial institutions, researchers, journalists and human rights organizations. PA Prime Minister Muhammad Mustafa represented the initiative as a means of preserving the national memory and documenting violence by Jewish settlers, which he said was part of a broader policy rather than a collection of isolated incidents (Wafa, July 29, 2026).<\/p>\n

[1] Click https:\/\/www.terrorism-info.org.il\/en<\/a> to subscribe and receive the ITIC’s daily updates as well as its other publications.

\n[2] See the August 2026 Amit Institute report, Agreement for Collecting Weapons from Hamas and the Other Armed Organizations in the Gaza Strip \u2013 Significance and Reactions<\/a>.

\n[3] That is, continue its jihad to destroy the State of Israel.

\n[4] An Egyptian compay owned by Ibrahim al-‘Arjani, a senior figure in the Tarabin tribe in northern Sinai and a businessman with close ties to the Egyptian leadership. \u2191<\/a>

\n[5] See the July 2026 Amit Institute reports, Turkey: Center for Hamas Leadership and Coordination<\/a> and Khalil al-Hayya Elected to Chair Hamas political bureau \u2013 Insights and Reactions<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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